Story from the Glendale News-Press
Thursday, October 31, 2001

Falcons win on a prayer
CV boys' water polo team uses equivalent of Hail Mary
on last play of match to beat Glendale, 11-10.
By HAMLET NALBANDYAN

ARCADIA -- This one's going to sting for a while.
The Crescenta Valley and Glendale high boys' water polo teams were separated Tuesday by the only thing that could set apart two teams as evenly matched as they are.
Luck.
With only one second left in the Pacific League preliminary match at Arcadia High, CV used what would be the equivalent of a Hail Mary in football to beat Glendale, 11-10, to move onto Thursday's finals against Arcadia High.
CV's Shane Besedick lobbed a ball toward the cage and David Mulcahey outjumped every Nitro and tipped it past keeper Jerry Sung [After the fourth quarter ended]for the [Cheap] win, just like Coach Jan Sakonju drew it up during the timeout.
"This is tough," said a quiet Pat Lancaster, the Nitro coach. "Just a tough way to lose a game."
The reaction was the exact opposite for CV.
"That was the only thing we could have done," said a jubilant Sakonju, moments after he was mobbed by his team. "We called on a prayer and got it on that one."
The play was a fitting end for a CV team that had improved by leaps and bounds since the last time the teams met on Oct. 10.
Glendale (9-7, 4-2 in league) won that match by a shocking score of 22-14, totally dominating the Falcons (12-10, 5-1 in league) at the Nitro pool.
"That Glendale game was a wake-up call for us," Sakonju said. "Sometimes, it's better to get blown out like that. It's a slap in the face and it forces you to look within to find the answers."
The Falcons came out with a fire that's rarely been seen by them this year. Sakonju's squad led by as much as two on three different occasions and didn't trail until midway through the fourth quarter.
And even when Glendale picked up its lone lead with a Narbeh Amirian goal with 3:47 left to make it, 9-8, CV came right back.
Mulcahey scored one of his match-high seven goals on a 6-on-5 advantage with 2:35 left to tie it up, and less than a minute later, he gave CV the lead again with his second four-meter goal.
Glendale tied it again -- one of seven times the teams were tied -- as Amirian, who had a match-high 11 steals, scored with 37 seconds left. But even his heroics couldn't save the Nitros from suffering what is surely to be one of the more heartbreaking losses in the program's history.
"You have to give credit to CV," Lancaster said. "They did their homework [from the previous match] and played like the champions they are.
"I just feel real bad for our seniors. This hurts so bad."
Glendale now must beat Pasadena at 3 p.m. Thursday at Arcadia to take third place in league and advance to the CIF Southern Section Division III postseason, where they will likely face a top-seeded opponent.

BOX SCORE CV*2*2*4*3*--*11 Glendale*1*2*4*3*--*10 CV -- Mulcahey 7 goals, Tickner 3, Besedick 1, 3 assists and 5 steals, Benzer 6 steals, Day 5 steals, Brown 3 steals. * Saves: Craney 7. Glendale -- Hahn 4 goals and 3 steals, Amirian 2 and 11 steals, Speer 2, 5 assists, R. Shagoulian 1, Simonyan 1, Lee 3 assists, 3 steals. * Saves: Sung 7.